The twists and turns of this roller coaster ride are truly heart-wrenching. SSMaritime reports that the Dubai people have the money to buy her, but the Indian scrap merchants want a $5 million deposit (probably non-refundable) before serious negotiations begin. The Dubai folks understandably don't want to get screwed by some junkyard rip-off artists from India, and in the meantime they tug her around the Indian Ocean with an Indian crew of 33 people- probably stripping the asbestos panels from the ship and dropping them overboard in international waters, and bingo... she arrives in Alang without anything for Greenpeace, etc. to complain about.

Is there any international law that would put these jokers in jail if this is really happening? or are they just going to play outlaw pirate long enough to get their way?

Yea I read a news item where the scrap yard owner was quoted as saying they had done everything humanly possible to reduce the hazardous waste on board to a minimum and expected no problem when the ship is inspected.

This "crew dumping the asbestos overboard" thing......could this be true?

I didn't think anyone would stoop so low!!
If it is true, is it possible? Could 33 Indian crew members have adequate access and enough time to dump that much asbestos into the sea?

If this is even a remote possibiliy, wouldn't this be a legal issue when the Indian "authorities" inspect the ship. I mean come on now. The famous "now you see it, now you don't" magic act. If David Copperfield walks off the ship at Alang....I could beleive it. But when 33 Indian crew members coughing up blood walk off the ship....heads should roll.

Where the heck is Greenpeace?! Don't they have boats/ships in the area to keep an eye on crew members throwing chunks of asbestos off the ship. It's only going 5 knots!!

Unfortunately, the idea of the skeleton crew jettisoning hazardous materials so that the vessel is squeaky-clean (or substantially so)for some travesty of an "inspection" upon arrival at Alang does not seem incredible at all, IMHO.

Surely $5million is spare change down the back of the couch for these people?

If they are WILLING as ssmaritime reports to pay up to $200,000,000 to restore her, then surely $5,0000,000 to start really won't matter that much?

This UAE project seems to have some considerable planning, thought and investment behind it, and i seriously doubt that pride will make them think "to hell with this, call it all off".

As SSmaritime reports, it is a joint UAE/USA venture. Then why are the USA investors letting the pride of the UAE investors jeapordise the whole project.

What I would like to know is who is calling the shots here? The whole UAE idea seems less "real" all the time.

Could this be ANOTHER star/breakers smokescreen? And where the hell are greenpeace? Surely they must be monitoring the situation? they had people aboard the clem when the fuss kicked up about that, why on earth aren't they following the Norway?

THE WHOLE THING JUST DOES NOT MAKE SENSE!

Right now I would not be suprised if i suddenly saw those winged funnels passing the Mumbles lighthouse and docking in Swansea Bay! Who knows?

I'm ROFL at the thought of how 33 guys could dump 1,250 TONNES of hazardous materials overboard in the course of a month or so. That's like 2.75 MILLION POUNDS of materials.

But as whacky as it sounds, I have to agree with my friend Heron Bay. These people are desperate! Their shipbreaking business is off by about 80% from their heyday in 1998-1999. So the thought of putzing around for 2 months, at 5 knots, whilst tossing the most obvious-looking insulation-type stuff overboard is NOT all that out of the question. They need the business, and their "authorities" are a willing accomplice.

If it were true, and I have no idea if it is or not, it just goes to show how foolish some laws are, no matter how well the intentions were.

Make it illegal to transport abestos from one nation to another, low morality businesses will find a way to skirt the law. In this example, dump the abestos at sea in international waters where there is no nation.

As long as the abestos remains wet, which it would be at sea, there is no danger of people or animals breathing it in once it is dumped.

Of course, the workers dumping it at sea will be breathing in large amounts of abestos fibers aboard the ship.

I don't think they'd be able to get rid of that much asbestos with only a crew of 33...however if the goal is to make it look like there is substantially less asbestos...combined with a shoddy inspection...it might be enough for the court to rule against the NGO's complaints and allow the scrapping.

On a sidenote, I am very impressed with Reuben's sleuth skills particularly as they relate to the current ownership of the ship. KU-DOS!